Plans to give people in Wales the day off to celebrate St David’s Day have sparked calls to make St George’s Day a national bank holiday in England.
Nationalists in Gwynedd Council’s cabinet in north-west Wales yesterday voted to shut its buildings and wind down its services on March 1 to give up to 5,000 people the day off to toast the nation’s patron saint.
Westminster, which has responsibility for bank holidays in Wales as well as England, had refused to back the plans on grounds that a day off would cause economic disruption and ultimately cost taxpayers.
But furious Plaid Cymru councillors unilaterally defied London’s demands, comparing England to an imperial power that treats Wales like its ‘last colony’ and its people like ‘children’.
For centuries, the Welsh have marked St David’s Day by wearing daffodils, attending parades, going to concerts and waving flag. But unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland, Wales does not have a national bank holiday for its patron saint.
The development has raised questions about why the English should not be allowed to enjoy a bank holiday for St George.
One social media user asked: ‘So will England get St George’s Day, Ireland get St Patrick’s Day? If yes then why not!’.
Another said: ‘In Wales only, if they want to why not? Obviously only if we get St George’s Day too. St George’s flags to be flown on all government buildings’.
Plans to give people in Wales the day off to celebrate St David’s Day have sparked calls to make St George’s Day a national bank holiday in England (pictured, people at a pub in Beckenham on April 23, 2007)
Despite annual parades and concerts, there is no special day off to toast March 1 in Wales
Saint David was a Welsh bishop of Mynyw but is now the adored patron saint of Wales
A third added: ‘Let’s also have a St George’s Day holiday. This move in Wales could catalyse that. Here’s a pint to St David’.
One person tweeted: ‘Also think the Cornish should get St Piran’s Day (March 5) off and the English St George’s Day’.
Councillors in Wales have claimed it is unfair that the Welsh can’t celebrate their patron saint with a day off and compared it to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, which will be marked with an extra bank holiday.
Dyfrig Siencyn, council leader, claimed that the government in Westminster regards Wales as ‘the last colony of its empire’.
‘It’s really offensive and insulting; our masters in London are treating us as little children who cannot make decisions themselves,’ he told The Guardian.
